My Company

By Dan Cook

Much has been made of the upcoming mass retirement among baby boomers and its possible impact on the workplace. But when Robert Half asked 2,100 CFOs if they were lying awake at night worrying about it, what they got from most respondents was one big yawn.

Robert Half was motivated to delve into the topic of boomer retirements because it wanted to find out if employers are prepared for this off-loading of veteran employees. The U.S. Bureau of Labor estimates that a fifth of the U.S. workforce may be retiring in the next few years.

When asked how concerned they were about all this, 63 percent of CFOs responded that they were either not concerned in the least or were somewhat unconcerned.

Meanwhile, 25 percent said they were somewhat concerned. Just 6 percent said they were ready to push the panic button at the thought of all those exits.

Those who were concerned about this inevitability cited the organizational loss of leadership as the No. 1 concern (39 percent). Another 23 percent said they would lose legacy knowledge that was valuable to the company (23 percent). Fifteen percent cited the loss of functional skills, and another 15 percent the loss of soft skills.

Robert Half was somewhat concerned that the CFOs weren’t more concerned.

“Although losing baby boomers to retirement may not be a universal concern yet, employers, as a best practice, should prepare themselves for the exit of experienced professionals from the workforce,” said Paul McDonald, Robert Half senior executive director. “Mentorship and succession plans can be effective means of passing on legacy knowledge, and retaining and developing a company's next generation of leaders.”